Signs of tunnels still exist in Staten Island's Elks Lodge

Advance photo/Jamie LeeSandy Lotz, exhaulted ruler of the Elks Lodge No. 841, and Nat Impellizzeri, a member of the Elks' board of trustees, examine one of the tunnels that once connected to the basement of the Greenridge lodge.

GREENRIDGE -- On the surface, Greenridge may not have much in common with Rome or Paris.

Beneath the busy streets of those European metropolises lie hidden catacombs that weave and wind about.

Greenridge has some tunnels of its own.

They may not be as old or as extensive, but the remnants of a series of underground passages can still be found by those who know where to look.

Once carving their way through the surrounding blocks, those abandoned tunnels had one thing in common - a central hub at what is now the Elks Lodge No. 841.

Hidden in plain sight at the intersection of Richmond Avenue and Arthur Kill Road, the lodge's basement served as the epicenter of the labyrinth.

Still today, the solid concrete of the foundation in the cellar is broken every so often by a section sealed crudely with brick and mortar where those entrances once were.

"There are a bunch of tunnels that once came out of the basement here," said Nat Impellizzeri, a member of the Elks' board of trustees. "They're all sealed up now, but they used to lead all around the area. Some of them supposedly date back all the way to the Civil War."

According to lodge legend, the first of the tunnels was dug right after the Brown family erected the building more than a century-and-a-half ago.

The patriarch of the house had made money in the shipping industry, and the story is that he used his home as a stop on the Underground Railroad. The passages helped to funnel slaves to safety.

As the estate changed hands, more tunnels were dug.

Around 1920, famed Island restaurateur Al Deppe purchased the property, as well as a tract of land diagonally across the intersection where Safari Golf now sits.

It was there that Deppe opened the Island's first drive-in restaurant. First called Al's Place and later Al Deppe's, it was renowned for its frankfurters and became an Island landmark.

As business prospered, Deppe opened a cabaret called the Palais Oriental and later an amusement center and arcade.

At some point, Deppe is said to have also added a 200-foot tunnel that connected the hot dog haven and his home.

"Some say that the tunnel was used to get into a speakeasy that was located in the house," said Elks exhaulted ruler, Sandra Lotz, of the Prohibition Era-addition to the passageways. "But most people seem to think that Mr. Deppe used the tunnel to carry his money and receipts back from the restaurant because he didn't want to walk along the surface with it."

By the time the Elks took over the building in the 1950s, the tunnels had been sealed.

Sewer and street construction knocked out most of the passages underneath the intersection of Richmond and Arthur Kill, and many of the remaining ones were filled in when the back lot was sold to developers who built condominiums years ago.

According to Elks member Henry Houle, though, whenever these construction projects crack into a preserved portion of tunnel, the topic of buried treasure seems to arise.

"Some people seem to think that Mr. Deppe buried some of his money there years ago and that it's still down there," the past trustee said. "Something tells me he didn't leave any money there, but it can't hurt to talk about it."

Jamie Lee is a reporter for the Staten Island Advance. He covers the West and South Shores and may be reached at jamielee@siadvance.com.

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Elks way

Eltingville resident David L. Brennan spent most of his life serving his country and his community, especially Elks Lodge No. 841.

On Jan. 25, his efforts were put on display permanently as the section of Wainwright Street was renamed David L. Brennan Elks Way.

While a member of the US Navy, Brennan served aboard the USS Ruchamkin during World War II and aboard the USS Cool'baugh during the Korean War.

After returning home, he toiled with veterans organizations on the Island including the Richmond County American Legion and the United Staten Island Veterans Organization. He served as grand marshal of the Great Kills Memorial Day Parade in 1998.

Brennan dedicated the rest of his free time to working with the Elks, where he had served as a past chairman of the board of trustees. At the time of this death in 2006, he had been petitioning to have the section of Wainwright immediately in front of the lodge renamed Elks Way.

More than two years later, that dream has been realized.

"This really honors a man who contributed a lot to his country, to the veterans and to the Elks," said Brennan's wife Gloria of the renaming, which was shepherded through by Elks member Tom Mannix and city Councilman Vincent Ignizio (R-South Shore).